


Emergency Landing

by scifishipper



Category: Battlestar Galactica (2003), Monday Mornings - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Choices, Crossover, Destiny, F/M, Friendship, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-30
Updated: 2013-11-30
Packaged: 2018-01-03 01:50:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,105
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1064276
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scifishipper/pseuds/scifishipper
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kara's not sure what she's doing on this strange Earth, but when she crashes her motorcycle and ends up in the emergency room being examined by Dr. Ty Wilson, it all starts to make sense.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Emergency Landing

**Author's Note:**

> Monday Mornings is a ten-episode cancelled series starring Jamie Bamber as Dr. Tyler Wilson, brilliant neurosurgeon. There are some Monday Morning canon characters here, but you don't really need to know much more about them than what appears in the story. Enjoy!

The woman on the gurney moans in pain, her face and chest covered in blood. Doctor Ty Wilson slips on a mask and hovers over her face, flicking the light to check her pupils. 

“Responsive,” he calls out and shouts more orders for a CT scan, x-rays, and blood work. “Get Samuelson in here.” He runs the code by heart, directing and managing the trauma team. 

“Her bike helmet took most of the blow, but somehow it flew off. A defect or something.” One of the EMTs is waving an odd-looking helmet from the door way. “She got sideswiped by another car. Guy drove off and left her. There were witnesses, so they called 9-1-1 right away. We got there within seven minutes. She gonna be all right?” 

Ty doesn’t glance back, just nods to Tina who leaves the woman’s side and escorts the EMT out. A minute later she returns, her face pale. “Ty…”

“Yeah, what is it?” He’s examining the rest of the woman's body, echoing the movements of the other personnel, looking for other signs pointing to how she might have landed.

“That EMT is with a guy named Leo. Says you know her.” 

At her words Ty blinks up. “What? Who?” 

“Her.” Tina points at the woman lying on the gurney. Ty glances at her face. It’s covered in blood and she has a dark bruise forming under one eye. 

“No. Don’t recognize her.” Leaning back from the bed, Ty spins towards the door. “Get me the results of the CT scan and x-rays as soon as they come in.” 

An hour later, Ty is in his office, dictating notes when Tina walks in again. Their affair has been over for a month, but somehow they’ve managed to stay friends. 

“How’s our Jane Doe?” He asks absently as he types an email. The woman’s neck had been fine and she hadn’t needed his surgical talents.

“She’s conscious. In a room now. . .” 

Tina stands there, her voice lilting as if she wants to say more. He raises his eyes. “And?”

“She asked for you.”

:: :: ::

Ty finishes as much paperwork as he can stand before he packs it in for the day. He’s going home in scrubs because he can’t be bothered to change. A last-minute carotid aneurysm landed him in the O.R. for a few extra hours past his usual time to knock off and he needs a hot meal, a shower and a good night’s sleep.

He stretches and yawns and pulls his bag out of his locker. He swings it over his shoulder and clicks off the light. He’s almost made it to the elevators when a man’s voice stops him. 

“Ty. You see the woman that came in this afternoon? She’s been asking for you. Driving the nursing staff crazy over on Seven-West.” It’s Villanueva who’s walking in stride with him as he takes the last few steps to the elevator and pushes the down button.

“I’m beat. I don’t know her, wasn’t her attending. I’ll stop in and see her tomorrow if I have time.” Ty yawns again and rakes his fingers through his hair. He needs a cut and a shave and he might have one if people didn’t bother him with this crap.

“Look, I get it. I’m beat, but she’s a little crazy. I’ve sent psych to evaluate her, but she’s got the staff all wound up.”

Ty sighs, slumping in protest for a long moment before he punches the up button. _It never ends._

:: :: ::

The seventh floor is usually quiet this time of night, but as he rounds the corner, he sees a cluster of nurses and an orderly gesturing towards one of the rooms. Ah, he thinks, that must be the crazy lady. Great.

Ty slings his bag back behind him as one of the nurses spies him. “Oh, Doctor Wilson. Thank god.” Callie Hargrove, dressed in dark pink scrubs, rushes over to him. “We tried to tell her you were a busy man, but she insisted. Psych has cleared her, says she’s not a danger to herself or anyone else.” Cally rolls her eyes in disdain. “Still crazy as a loon if you ask me, but I’ll let you judge for yourself.”

Ty pops his eyes wide. He’s had more than his share of unwanted attention from nurses and patients, but none has been quite so... insistent on seeing him. 

“All right. I’ll see what I can do. I didn’t recognize her, but she was covered in blood. Maybe I do know her.” Ty shrugs and walks towards the woman’s room. 

Knocking softly, he hears the noise of a ball game and knocks louder to make himself known. 

“What?” comes the sharp reply. “I said no one comes in unless it’s Wilson.” 

“That’d be me, Miss…” Ty strides into the room, taking in the view of clothes and towels thrown around the furniture. It looks like a tornado swept through. The woman has her back to him, a gap in her hospital gown revealing the line of her spine.

She spins at his voice and stops cold, eyes widening. “Well, I’ll be damned.” She grins brightly and takes a step towards him. 

Ty’s eyes widen and he steps back. He definitely does not know this woman. He gives her an awkward smile. He’d done a psych rotation and he knows what not to do. He pitches his voice lower. “I’m sorry, Miss...?” He looks at her expectantly, but she just stands there grinning at him. “Miss, well, I seem to be at a disadvantage. You seem to know who I am, but I don’t know you.” 

She's obviously surprised. "Really?" Dismay flickers across her face and she frowns, sitting down heavily on the bed. “Frak.”

Ty’s brow wrinkles. Not exactly the response he was expecting. She really thinks she knows him.

From his side view, he takes her in, her straight blond hair cut shoulder-length, strong jaw, high cheekbones dotted with dark red red scabs from the accident. The eye with the bruise is obscured, and from this angle, he can tell she’s got an unusual beauty. 

“Hey, look. Maybe you’ve got me confused with someone else.” Ty steps closer and sits on the edge of the chair across from her. 

She gives him a strange look. “You could say that.” 

Her left eye, now that he can see it, is bright red with a dark slash of bruise under it. He stares at the bruise. “You having any problems with your vision? Looks like you have some damage to your eye – maybe just a bruise, but it can be a sign of brain injury.” Even though her CT scan came back clear, Ty assumes that she’d had a neuro work up by the neurologist on call.

“Fine. It’s all fine. I’ve had worse.” She shakes her head and stares at him intensely. “You don’t remember me at all? Nothing?”

“I'm sorry...Miss...” This time he pauses and refuses to speak until she gives her name.

“Thrace. Kara Thrace,” she answers, notching her chin up.

“Look Miss Thrace, I really haven’t met you before, and it is possible that your head trauma could be inducing some kind of belief that we have met before. I’d like to run a few more diagnostic tests.” Ty stands, looking down at her. Her eyes are a golden hazel that he’d find quite pretty if one of the irises wasn’t ringed in broken blood vessels.

“I’ll check back in on you in the morning. If you have any kind of headache, dizziness, nausea, or if you see anything strange in your vision, please let the nurse know.” Ty steps away from the bed. “It was nice to meet you, Ms. Thrace, and I’ll see you in the morning.” Ty feels his back begin to ache anew. He really needs to get home.

She doesn’t answer, so he turns and walks towards the door.

“So, that’s it?” Her voice calls out and he glances over his shoulder.

“What’s that?” She’s dragging this out and it’s the last thing he needs. He taps his foot inside his shoe.

“A strange woman shows up claiming to know you. _Really_ know you, if you know what I mean.” She eyes him pointedly and Ty feels slightly alarmed. “And you’re not even curious where I know you from?”

He takes a deep breath and proceeds with caution. “I don’t believe you know me, Ms. Thrace, so no, I am not curious. I need to go now.” Ty’s caution flags are up, not because she seems dangerous, but because she seems so convinced.

He almost reaches the door before she speaks again. “We were best friends, lovers even. Before I screwed it up. No wonder you don’t remember.” Her voice fades off and he feels a sense of foreboding. This has the potential to get very very weird.

“Good night, Ms. Thrace.” 

He feels a weird sense of déjà vu as he leaves her behind and closes the door. He shakes it off and heads towards the nurses’ station. He quickly types some notes and orders the tests he needs. 

With a backwards glance at her door, he realizes that he is actually curious about her, not precisely the curiosity she was insinuating, but more of a neurological puzzle. People present to him every day with strange sensations and perceptions related to brain tumors and abnormalities, but none of them has ever been specifically about _him_.

Ty shakes his head and pushes the thoughts away. Tomorrow, he’ll check the journals to see what he can find. For now, he needs to go to sleep.

:: :: ::

“What do you mean I can’t go back?” Kara’s pacing with a limp around the small hospital room, throwing glares at Leoben as he talks.

“I don’t have the answers, Kara. Only god knows and he’s brought us here.” His voice has that calm tone that makes her want to punch him. 

“Lee doesn’t even know me. If I was sent here for him, wouldn’t you think he’d know it?” She stands akimbo, facing him down. “This is bullshit.” 

Leoben opens his mouth to speak, but before he can get another word in, she puts up her hand. “Don’t give me that crap about the streams, okay. This world, Earth, it’s not right. None of this is right!"

Less than eighteen hours ago, she’d steered her viper into a storm, snapping through in a blaze of fireworks to the other side and Leoben’s waiting raider. Dazed, she’d gone aboard, trying to raise Lee on the comms, his voice echoing in her ear. “You come back here.” 

It had been useless and the storm that she’d gone through had sucked the raider back inside, swirling the ship until she’d lost consciousness. And then she woke up in a medical transport surrounded by strange smells and odd sirens and a woman talking to her with a weird Caprican accent.

“I’ll talk to him again. Maybe when my face heals, he’ll recognize me.” Her mind is frantic now. How can Lee be here and not know her? None of it makes sense. 

“Kara, listen.” She spins back towards him, waiting for him to continue. “Is there any way that Lee wouldn’t recognize you? He loved you. He doesn’t recognize you because he doesn’t know you. You’ve got to face that.”

“What if I spend time with him? What if it jogs his memory?” She starts pacing again. She’s seen enough movies to know that the person with amnesia _always_ remembers. Kara snorts a small laugh. Maybe she needs to punch him. 

“You can try.” His tone says he obviously doesn’t believe it will work. Stupid cylon.

“I will.” She sits back down on the bed and rubs her knee under the brace. Same frakking knee gets in her way again. Damn her body.

“Well, while you wait, read the newspaper. You’ve got to blend.”

Kara grabs it out of his hands and rolls her eyes. “Since when have I ever _blended_?”

:: :: ::

Ty’s in before seven the next morning and prepping for his first surgery of the day, a forty-two year old woman with a meningioma at the base of her skull. He’s leaning against a table in front of the light panels studying the patient’s scans, sliding his fingers over his freshly shaved skin. The meningioma is irregularly shaped and he’ll need to—.

“Morning, Doctor Wilson.” The deep baritone of Buck Tierney interrupts his thoughts. 

“Doctor,” Ty acknowledges, rubbing a hand across the back of his neck. “What can I do for you?”

“Your three o’clock, standard melanoma. Furgess will be on hand to demonstrate some new equipment. I trust that won’t be a problem today?” Tierney moves closer to partially block his view of the scans.

Ty glances at the older doctor. “Nope. No problem.” Ty rocks back on his heels and waits for the man to leave. He’s about to make a comment under his breath when Tierney speaks again.

“Oh, and by the way,” Buck says in his most sarcastic tone. “I heard your new girlfriend on Seven is asking for you.” 

:: :: ::

It’s the middle of patient lunch hour when Ty finally makes it to see Kara Thrace again. The morning’s surgery went well, finishing in enough time for a quick lunch (and three more people prodding him to see her again). He’d checked with her attending and there were no signs of any neurological damage, but even without detectable physical injuries, a head trauma could alter someone’s personality. He isn’t ready to rule out brain damage yet.

Ty knocks on the door again, this time stepping into a tidy room with an empty lunch tray. “Looks like you’ve got an appetite,” he says, smiling at the woman safely tucked into her bed reading the paper. 

“Hi, Doctor Wilson,” she answers, dropping the paper onto her lap. “Yeah, the foods not what I’m used to, but not bad.” She seems calmer and he sits in the chair next to her bed.

“I talked to Doctor Harding and she says your scans are all clear and that you passed all of her neurological exams. Said your reflexes were actually faster than average. What do you do? I mean, for a job?”

Kara gives him a strange look. “Pilot.” She swallows hard. “Or at least I was.”

“Was? This injury shouldn’t prevent you from flying. Unless you mean the knee.” He points to her brace.

She makes a face. “Third time with this knee.” She pats the canvas and metal contraption around her leg. “It hasn’t beaten me yet.”

“So, you said _was_ ,” Ty asks, intrigued because she might be the only female pilot he's ever met. “What kind of pilot?”

“Military,” she answers and pins her lips together. 

Ty raises an eyebrow. She’s getting more interesting by the minute. “Not too many female fighter pilots. What branch of the service?” 

Kara gives him a blank look and glances down at her paper. “So, um… about yesterday.”

He blinks at the quick change in subject. Whatever happened must not be something she wants to talk about. 

She continues, “So, sorry about that. You do really look like someone I knew a long time ago. I guess I was confused because I hit my head.” She doesn’t quite meet his eyes when she talks.

“I kind of figured. I think I’d remember you.” The tone of his voice is flirtier than he means it to be, but he realizes he doesn’t want to take it back. 

Kara chuckles, low and vibrant from deep in her chest, a wide teasing smile on her face. “Yes, you would have definitely remembered.” She pauses, her face growing more serious. “Anyway, I wanted to say thanks for not locking me up in the crazy house. I must have seemed pretty nuts.” She nudges herself forward and pushes her braced leg off the edge of the bed to sit facing him.

Ty watches her as she moves, admiring the muscled arms and a flash of a well-toned upper thigh. _Stop it,_ he chastises himself silently. She’s a patient.

“No problem, Kara. I’m glad you’re okay. That’s what counts.” He smiles at her, and their eyes linger for just a moment longer than feels comfortable, so he stands, wiping his palms on his scrubs. “Looks like you're being discharged this afternoon. Make sure you call your regular doctor to follow up on that knee.”

Kara gives him a sad smile and stands awkwardly, one hand holding onto the rail of her bed and the other stretched out between them. “Good luck on your journey, Doctor Wilson.”

He studies her face, brow wrinkling. There’s something about her he’s drawn to. He clasps her hand and squeezes. “You, too, Kara Thrace.”

:: :: ::

Three weeks later, Kara catches Ty at the hospital. She’s been monitoring his movements like a proper stalker, strategizing a way to get close to him without the whole crazy lady business. Despite what Leoben says, she’s still convinced he’ll remember. 

“Doctor Wilson,” she calls out, one hand clasping her cane and the other waving him over. He’s in his usual blue scrubs, arms bare and muscled. Kara almost chuckles, though, at his hair, wild and lighter than Lee’s had ever been. 

When he turns, she watches the surprise roll across his face and then a smile. He definitely remembers her now. “Hi, Kara. How’s the knee?” He glances down at her leg, free of the brace. Up close, his face is tan, the bright blue of his eyes exactly the same shade as Lee’s.

“Docs just cut me loose. Physical therapy until I have better mobility. This old thing is supposed to keep me moving slow.” She taps her cane on the floor a few times. Truth is, she hasn’t needed it for a week, but without it she’d have no reason to go to the hospital clinic.

“That’s good to hear. You’ll be flying again in no time.” Ty grins at her, looking so much like a playful Lee that her heart stutters. She misses him so much.

He must have seen something change in her face because his smile fades. “Or something else… Guess that pilot thing is done? Didn’t mean to touch a nerve.” He drops his eyes and shifts awkwardly on his feet.

Kara shrugs, pretending it’s no problem. “Hey, life’s short. No sense bitching about things you can’t change.” She tries not to think about being stuck on Earth.

Ty gives her the same frowny smile that Lee used to do and her breath doesn’t come for a long minute. She wants to reach out and grab him, shake him into her reality, but she knows she can’t, so she tightens her fist around her cane and blinks. 

“Look at me, acting like a nugget. Listen, I’m sure you’re busy with all your doctor things, but if you want to have coffee sometime. Or something stronger, give me a shout.” She pulls a rolled-up receipt out of her jacket and points at the pen sticking out of his pocket. 

“What? Oh, okay.” He laughs and hands the pen to her. She feels him watching as she writes down her cell number, his blue eyes popping back to hers when she puts the pen and the number into his hand. 

“Good to see you again, Doc.” Kara grins, flirting for all she’s worth. If this doesn’t work, kidnapping is still on the table.

“Uh, call me Ty.” He smiles back, flirting back and not at all shy like she’d expect from Lee. Except he’s not Lee, so… 

Kara gives herself a mental shake. This whole thing could make a person crazy. “Okay, Ty. Anyway, you know how to reach me.” She winks at him and turns away with a grin. She feels his eyes watching her as she leaves through the sliding glass doors.

:: :: ::

“You free for breakfast?” Tina’s voice comes from the doorway of his office and he glances up. 

“Not really… I have charting to do and a meeting with Hooten in about twenty minutes. Thought you had a procedure?” Tina’s been on call for twenty-seven hours and he can see the tiredness around her eyes. 

“Cancelled. Patient has an upper respiratory infection.” Tina shrugs, crossing her arms over her chest.

He senses that she’s lingering and he feels irritation climb up his spine. He glances back down to his screen and starts to type. “What’s up, Tina?” He doesn’t glance at her.

“Joel’s gone for two weeks on business…” Tina’s voice lilts at the end, her tone an expectation that they’ll resume their fling.

Ty stills his fingers and looks up at her. “I thought we talked about this…that things were going okay with us being friends.” He hurt her when he ended things – it had been too messy and they worked better as friends.

Tina hides her hurt well under a smile and another shrug. “Yeah, guess you’re right.” 

Ty spins his chair a bit to face her. “You okay?” 

“Yeah. Fine. I’m going to head home then. Good luck with Hooten.” 

Ty groans. The Chief of Staff had been dogging him since the last M&M meeting. “Thanks. See you later.”

Tina leaves and Ty keeps typing his notes, ignoring the rumble in his stomach. Breakfast would have been good, but not with Tina. 

:: :: ::

It’s not quite seven in the morning when her cell chimes. She’s half-asleep when she answers it. “Thrace.”

“Oh, hey, Kara. It’s Ty Wilson. Did I wake you? Sorry. Doctor’s hours.”

“No, it’s fine. Sleep is for the dead. How’s it going?” Kara rubs her eyes and sits up in bed, taking a drink of water and listening as he starts to speak.

“Calling you about that coffee. My next case is postponed and I have a break. How would you feel about pancakes?” He’s got a happy lilt in his voice, reminding her a lot of Zak, maybe even Lee if things had gone differently. So weird how the universe works.

“Kara? You there?” His voice interrupts her thoughts and she speaks too loud. “Sorry, I’m here. Pancakes sound great. Where?”

“Captain’s Cakes – yeah, I know, dumb name, but they’ve got excellent banana-strawberry pancakes and I’m starving. How’s twenty minutes? Is that enough time?” 

“Sure. Sounds good. See you then.” She clicks off the call and springs into action. The game is on.

:: :: ::

Over the next few weeks, they meet once or twice a week for breakfast or lunch, talking and laughing and getting to know each other. Kara tells him as much of the truth as she can, talking about her life and the crap she’d endured to get to this place. She spoke carefully, though, worried still about slipping up as she lost herself in the memories of her old life. 

His life, she learned, hadn’t been that good to him, either, and he’d lost a little brother, too. The universe obviously meant for Lee-Ty-Adama-Wilson to be an only child. He talked to her about a lot of things, his romances and his never ending quest to be the best surgeon he could be. She got that part, saw how he was so much like Lee, only more confident, without the weight of the military or the Old Man to dog him.

Mostly she just liked to look at him when he talked, thinking of Lee and the life she’d had with him – or barely with him through all of her screw ups. She thought of everyone she left behind, Sam and the Old Man, Hot Dog, even Racetrack. All seemed like a different life now – one that she didn’t miss as much as she thought she should.

“So, what about you? What are you going to do with yourself now that you’re out of the service?” Ty’s finished off his second cup of coffee and is leaning casually with one arm draped over the seat next to him.

“Have to re-certify with the private sector – try to get a job. Maybe teaching at a flight school. Don’t know. Haven’t decided.”

“Think you’ll be sticking around town?” Ty asks, his eyes appraising her. As much as they’ve gotten closer, she feels his wariness.

“Why, would you miss me?” She asks, licking syrup off of finger. Vivid as day, she remembers those words when she’d spoken them to Lee. Her heart pounds.

He glances away and then back to meet her eyes. “Yeah. I think I would.”

:: :: ::

The next time they meet, she insists on a real date with a bar and drinks, and if she’s lucky, him in her bed at the end of the night. She’s played coy and calm, but what she really wants is to kiss him. It’s been too frakking – no, fucking – long. 

The dress she chose is short and black, a far cry from the borrowed number she’d worn at the Colonial Day dance. That had been prudish by Earth standards and she knew she had the body to carry off something more. Her hair was the same, only silkier with a product Leoben had bought for her. How he knew these things she’d never know, but she just accepted it and didn’t ask questions. 

Kara arrives at the bar fifteen minutes late with her heels already pinching her toes. The bar is near the door and she glances around as she plops down on a stool. She needs to get off her feet and have a beer. Ty is nowhere that she can see.

“Whatever dark beer you have on draft,” she says to the bartender, a young Asian man who reminds her of Chuckles. She slides over a tall glass and Kara raises it, saying a silent prayer to the gods, and drinks. _Gods keep them._

After fifteen minutes, Kara texts him…trying to stay casual, but worried that he’s not going to show. She’s halfway through her second beer when she senses him and glances behind her. He sees her and his expression brightens. 

“Sorry, I’m late. Case consult got held up.” Ty grins and Kara doesn’t care as long as he’s here. “Should we get a table?”

“I’m happy at the bar, if it’s okay with you.” Kara nudges back onto the stool and crosses her legs, hitching her skirt higher. Ty’s eyes drop and she grins when he looks at her again. He blushes and calls the bartender over to order a beer. 

They chat like they always do, easy conversation, memories, and lots of laughs. Ty’s halfway through his second beer when their legs somehow end up tangled and his hand is on her thigh, then stroking the scars on her knee. 

“How’s the knee? Ever think of laser scar removal? You’ve had a couple of surgeries.” Kara has to focus to hear the question because his hand is making her mind go blank.

“I, uh, no. It’s a good reminder.” She tips back the rest of her beer.

“Reminder?” He raises a brow at her.

“Reminds me of a past life. That things change and there isn’t frak you can do about it.” 

“Frak?” Ty laughs. “Sometimes you say the strangest things.” 

Kara blanches and recovers. The beer is making her sloppy. “Travel the world and you pick up a thing or two.”

“I guess. I keep thinking I’ll travel, but never quite have the time.”

Their burgers come and they spin to face the bar and the long lines of bottles on the mirrored shelves. The food is good and Kara loves that he seems comfortable just about anywhere. Doesn’t tell her to slow down when she orders a fourth beer and doesn’t expect her to act like anyone other than who she is. And as soon as she has that thought, a lump forms in her throat and she can barely swallow. It feels like a betrayal. Ty isn’t Lee. He’s not better than Lee. _Oh gods, she misses him. What is she doing?_

“I’ll be right back.” Kara pushes off her bar stool, grabs her small purse, and heads to the ladies room. She finds an empty stall and calls Leoben. She hates that she needs him so much, but he listens.

“I can’t do this!” Kara says as soon as he answers.

“Kara. Calm down. What happened?” 

“It’s Ty. He’s not Lee. He’s not. What am I doing?” Kara feels sick and can’t understand why. For two and a half months she’s been fine, not worried, ready and willing to chase down Tyler Wilson until she gets what she wants. Only now she has no idea what she wants anymore. 

“No, Kara. It’s not Lee. Lee’s back in the Fleet with the rest of them. We’re here and I don’t think we’re leaving.” His voice is calm and smooth and this is one of those times that she’d love to punch him. 

“Then what am I doing here? People don’t get second chances. Definitely not me.” Tears are rolling down her cheeks and she feels like a frakking idiot. 

“You most of all, Kara. Your mother said you were destined for great things. You have a role to play. This is your second chance, Kara.” Leoben sounds so convincing, leading her down this road. But nothing makes sense anymore. She’s gotten too comfortable and the gods don’t play nice. 

“No. Bullshit. Every frakking time. Bullshit!” Kara hangs up on him and rubs at her face with toilet paper. She has no idea what she’s going to do, but she’s got to get out of here. She needs time to think.

Kara opens the bathroom door and sees Ty looking up at the ball game on the widescreen behind the bar. She hesitates only a moment before she dashes outside and into the cool night air.

She’s more than a block away when she hears him calling her. She ignores it and starts to run. Because that is what she always does. She runs.

But her heels are too high and her knee isn’t as healed as she wants to believe. Seconds later, she’s sliding on the sidewalk, hands and knees burning on the rough cement. Pain lances through her elbow. 

Before she can recover, Ty is there. “Kara, are you okay? What happened?” He’s touching her gently, helping her sit as she holds onto her elbow, eyes smarting again with tears. 

“Nothing. I’m fine. Let me go,” she snaps. Nothing on this world is like it should be. Frakking Kara Thrace on her ass in high heels and a Lee Adama look-alike staring down at her. 

Ty recoils back with the most stunned expression and it’s all so bizarre that Kara just starts to laugh. Silently at first, and then doubled over and trying to catch her breath. 

“I’m sorry, Ty,” she says when she can breathe. Ty’s staring at her with a mixture of anger and concern. That crease between his eyes is as much Lee Adama as anything she’s ever seen.

“Kara, I don’t get you. If you didn’t want to go out with me, why the game?” Ty goes from crouched to sitting against the closed gate of a nearby shop. He avoids her eyes.

She wipes at her eyes with her wrists and winces as she moves, kicking off her shoes to sit near him. She examines the brush burns on her palms and elbow. “It’s a long and crazy story and you’d never believe me.”

“Well, tell me something I will believe.” His tone is sharp and he stares into her. She licks her thumb and rubs at the brush burn on her good knee.

“Kara, stop that. Hold on a sec.” Ty looks around and stands up. “I’ll be right back.” He walks two doors down and comes back with a bottle of water, some soap, and a roll of paper towels. 

“You don’t have to fix me,” she says. She feels like a frakwit.

“Just hold still.” Ty’s a little rougher than he needs to be when he rubs at the brush burns on her palms.

She watches him and doesn’t speak. When he starts to clean her elbow, it hurts and she grits her teeth. He finishes her elbow and tells her to hold a square of paper towels against it until it stops bleeding. He tends to her knees and his fingers are so gentle that she can barely feel them.

“Lee. The man you remind me of. I loved him.” Her voice is just as soft as his fingers, and she wouldn’t be sure he could hear except that his hands freeze. When he looks up at her, his eyes are bright and hurt.

“I’m not him, Kara,” he says after a second, and then goes back to cleaning her bad knee.

“No. I know. It’s just… I frakked it all up. I mean really frakked it up. Worse than you can imagine. I hurt him and if I saw him again, I’d probably hurt him again. You’re not him and that’s the problem.” She suddenly doesn't know who this man with Lee's face even is. 

“Why, you think you can’t hurt me? Never had a woman actually run away from me, Kara.” Ty stops his ministrations and sits cross-legged near her outstretched legs. He stares at her expectantly.

She shakes her head. “If you knew what was good for you, you’d run, too. ‘Cept you don’t, do you?” Her sadness about Lee fills her up again. No matter how much she has tried to make this man Lee, he’s not. Never will be. 

Ty wads up all of the used paper towels into a ball and thumps it onto the cement. “So, that’s it then?”

“What do you mean?” 

“You run, I chase. We do it a couple of times until you really hurt me and I say ‘fuck it’ and it’s over?” Ty’s voice cuts into her.

She doesn’t know what to say. That is how it always goes. 

“I don’t have time for games, Kara. I work about a hundred hours a week, I go home to an empty loft, a bed that’s barely slept in, and in the last year and a half, you’re the first thing that’s gotten me to leave work like a normal human being. So, I don’t have time to do this if it’s going to crash and burn. You say so and I’ll go and we won’t see each other again. Just give me the word.”

Every part of Kara wants to tell him to go away, but the words don’t come. She has no idea how to do it right.

“Kara? What happened?” Leoben’s voice cuts through the racing thoughts in her head.

“Leo?” Kara tries to sit up when Leoben approaches. “How’d you find me?” 

“GPS, remember? I told you about that. What happened?” He stares at the various scrapes, then glances at Ty and looks startled. “God, even close up, you look just like him.”

Ty stands, face even more irritated than it was before. “So I’ve been told.” 

“Leo, this is Doctor Ty Wilson.” Kara struggles to stand and both men haul her up. She leans against the grate, the beer and burger rolling around in her stomach. 

They all stare awkwardly at things that are not each other.

Ty speaks first, “Kara, you should probably have those properly cleaned. The elbow’s going to need a bandage.”

Ty’s all business now and whatever opportunity he was giving her seems to be gone. Kara glances at Leoben. “Okay. We have some stuff at home.”

“All right then.” Ty’s backed off to toss the paper towels into a garbage can. “Leoben, you have her? I’m going back to the hospital.” He barely glances at Kara before spinning on his heel and walking off towards the place where they first met.

Kara sighs, body feeling heavy and loose all at the same time. She watches Ty until he turns the corner and disappears.

:: :: ::

Two weeks pass and Kara and Leoben have decided to move south to California. His job, the one he doesn’t tell her about, is flexible and he says he can live anywhere. Kara’s loathe to leave Ty and any hope she might have to try again. Every time she thinks about it, she always comes around to thinking that there are some things in this or any other universe that Kara Thrace just isn’t meant to have. Ty Wilson is one of them.

“Don’t have much more stuff than I did on Galactica. Couple of boxes to my name,” Kara says to Leoben whose been carrying boxes to the Jeep. She closes the lid on the last box and stacks it by the door. She gets a flash of packing boxes to move down to New Caprica with Sam. That had gone so well, too.

“You going to try to see him one last time?” Leoben asks, lifting the box and leaning against the doorjamb. 

Kara shrugs. She likes to think she's made up her mind, but the pull is there. Always that need to see him, just a glimpse. She’s done it so many time, skulking around, making sure he was okay when she wasn’t. Always felt like she owed him that much. Didn’t feel quite right leaving him again. Except it's not Lee, she reminds herself. Damn.

“You think I’m making a mistake?” Kara sits at the kitchen table and pulls her dog tags out of her pocket. Zak’s ring jars against the metal hexagon.

“You know what I believe,” Leoben says, sure and steady. She expects him to talk about destiny and all that crap again, but he stays quiet.

“What if it all ends again? What if I disappear again and end up somewhere else? Leave him again?” 

“I told you, this is it. What happened in the nebula is done. We’re here to stay. You feel it. Told me yourself. This is our reality, Kara. Gotta make a life for yourself.” 

Kara still can’t let the past go and his words grate. “Fuck off. I don’t know why I even ask you.”

“Cause you know I’m right. You just never decide to listen to me.” Leoben hefts the box up to get a better grip and takes it down the stairs to the jeep. 

Kara pushes the doubts out of her mind and shoves the tags into her pocket. Leoben’s wrong. This isn’t her life. Can’t be.

She glances around the empty apartment and closes the door behind her.

:: :: :: ::

Leoben drives away in the Jeep and Kara starts her motorcycle. They plan to sightsee along the way, so it’ll be a couple of days until they find their new place and Kara starts over again. One of the municipal airports in northern California is looking for a flight instructor and Leoben thinks he can somehow get her the documents she needs to qualify. It’s a longshot, but she’s got to do something other than mope around thinking of all the way’s she’s screwed up her life. 

She drives around the block, passing the spot where she last saw Ty. The shop is open now, a florist with bunches of fresh flowers lined in rows near where she fell. At the end of the block her mind is on Ty and Lee and she feels the pull again, the tingling urge to find him, see him being just fine so she can move on, too. She guns the motor and surges down the street towards the pale-bricked building and follows the signs to the parking garage. She heads around the back, tucking her bike next to a dumpster and takes the custodial entrance, blocked off with a rubber wedge for the smokers to pop out for a cigarette. 

The stairwell is quiet and she climbs up two flights, happy to feel nothing but a mild twinge in her knee. The corridor is nearly empty until she rounds the corner and into one of the patient units. She follows the signs to the neuro suite and the adjoining recovery room, knowing it’s her best shot at spotting Ty. She’d learned a lot about his usual routine when they used to meet for breakfast. The memory of it tightens her throat and she turns a corner, hanging back as a gurney rolls by with an unconscious patient. 

A group of blue-clad doctors cluster at the end of the corridor. She recognizes Ty from the back, his amber-colored hair curling around his neck. His posture is relaxed, shoulders broad as he gestures to the doctor he’s speaking to. She leans against the wall and watches, taking him in, memorizing him for the rest of her journey. He fits into the place after Zak and Lee and the Old Man, different now instead of wedged between Lee before and after Zak’s death, before and after New Caprica and his marriage to Dee. Everything here is different enough that Ty doesn’t have to be related to any of what it used to be. She smiles, watches him turn the other way, chat with a nurse and then disappearing behind a closed door. She smiles. He’s fine. She’s fine. 

She’s done here and it feels good.

:: :: :: 

Kara takes the steps down to the back entrance with a smile on her face. Smoke wafts into the building from a smoker who has the door spread wide open, sunlight streaming onto the dark cement floor. She breathes it in, feeling open and ready to get on her bike and leave.

“Kara?” She stops, startled to see him standing there.

“Ty… What the hell? Thought you gave up smoking.”

“Off and on again. What are you doing here? Not for the knee, I’m guessing.” He looks her over, amused. 

She grins, letting herself fall into their easy banter. “I’m heading out of town. Moving down to Cali. There’s a flight instructor position north of Sacramento. Thinking it might be a new start.” The words sound right on her tongue. 

Ty takes a long drag on his cigarette, the ember growing bright. He looks across the parking lot and blows the smoke out. “Sounds good, Kara.” He’s cool towards her and she gets it. 

Kara holds out her hand and he passes the cigarette to her. She takes a long drag, too, and watches as the smoke mingle with his. She hands the cigarette back to him with a smile and slips past, stepping into the sun to look back to where he’s leaning on the door. He’s beautiful and tan, looking oddly not like Lee at all, but an older version, with more weight and a relaxed way about him. The differences are striking and she’s glad. Lee was Lee and she wants to keep him that way. They had their time and she locks it away in her mind – she wouldn’t give that up for anything. Or anyone.

“Good hunting, Ty,” Kara says, as a way of ending it. She chuckles at his confused expression. “It’s something we used to say in the Fleet before the pilots when out on maneuvers.” She shrugs. “Old habits die hard.” 

Kara steps over to her bike, feeling his eyes on her. She zips up her leather jacket.

“You’re right, you know,” Ty says, letting the door ease closed behind him as he steps forward.

Kara smirks. “Yeah? Don’t hear that too often.” She flips the straps out of her helmet and rests it on the seat, watching him.

“No, I mean, you’re right. Old habits do die hard.” He’s close enough now that she can smell the smoke on his clothes. 

Kara drops her gaze, not quite sure what he means. 

“You really pissed me off when you left the bar. Thought we might make a go of things between us.”

Kara glances up at him, feels shame rolling through her. “Ty…”

“No, let me finish. I don’t know who this Lee person is or was. Hell, I don’t really know much about your mysterious past, but I like you, Kara. Fuck. I mean, I feel something…I can’t stop thinking about you…” He clamps his mouth closed, face flushed. “It sounded better in my head.”

Kara nods. “Yeah. Things always sound better in my head. Soon as I open my mouth, it all goes to hell.” She smiles, turning to open herself up to him. 

“Yeah, I’ve noticed that.” He grins and they laugh.

“Listen, Kara. I know you’re heading off, but—” He stops talking and steps into her space, face close, eyes blazing. She tilts up her head, wanting this with her entire body and soul. He closes the gap and kisses her, lips touching gently at first and then smashing together when it feels completely right. His tongue is wet and smooth when she opens her mouth and threads her arms around his neck. His fingers find her shirt under her jacket, skimming along the thin t-shirt fabric. Everything in her existence focuses on this moment, searing it into her memory, completely different and so much the same as Lee. It fits like it didn’t before and she can see a future opening up before her. A colorful path of laughter and fights and little blond children with Zak’s eyes. 

She breaks the kiss with a gasp. Staring up at him, eyes unfocused. “Frak.” 

Ty chuckles again. “I guess I’m going to have to get used to that, yeah?” 

Kara doesn’t answer and pulls away from him. She’s dizzy with the possibility that she could be meant to stay here. Embrace this life. “Ty…” She glances up at him, knits her fingers together into a ball against her belt buckle.

“I’m sorry, Kara. Shouldn’t have done that. You made it clear the other night, right?” He pulls his lips into a tight line and brushes his hand through his hair.

“No. I didn’t. I am not frakking clear on anything.” Her world feels split into two parts. Before the storm and after. Frak ups and new chances. It can’t be that frakking simple.

“Me, neither, Kara. What the hell is going on with us?” Ty stands in front of her, legs akimbo, arms folded across his chest. He deserves some kind of answer and she takes a deep breath.

“It really is a crazy story that you’ll never believe, but I don’t know… This feels like a second chance for me. I mean, with you. It’s fucking terrifying.” For the first time in years, Kara’s completely honest with herself and she’s said it to someone else. 

“Hey,” he says, touching her cheek then letting his hand drop. “Same here. This thing doesn’t feel normal or regular to me. Not sure I am even remotely ready for you…this. What I’ve had before, they’ve been nothing, time-wasters, sex, fun to blow off steam…” 

“I’m moving. Now. Today. I can’t do this.” She says the words but her body refuses to move out of his sphere.

“I’m not going anywhere, Kara. I’ll be here, working because that’s what I do.” He sighs, frustrated and moves back. This dance keeps happening and she doesn’t know how to stop it. 

“Frak. Ty…wait.” She grabs onto his shirt and twists it in her fingers. She kisses him again, yanking their bodies together. She can’t leave this. Can’t do it.

She wants to frak him right now, in the dirt near the dumpster where half the hospital staff could see. But it’s worth more than that. No more hidden fraks. She has no idea how not to run, so she holds on instead. 

They stop kissing and embrace. Ty’s mouth is red and wet when he moves back enough to look at her. “What does that mean, Kara? Sex is sex. I could do it here, for fuck’s sake. You’re leaving, I’m staying.”

Kara searches his face, looking for something, a sign. _Gotta make a life for yourself.”_ Leoben’s voice is the only one she can hear. Frak.

“I don’t want to leave.” She spits out the words like they burn.

“But…” Ty lets his arms drop away from her. 

Frak this. “But nothing. Godsdamnit. I’ll stay. I can’t promise a damn thing, but I’ll stay. Gods save me from frakking up again.” 

She kisses Ty again, more slowly, exploring. She shoves her hand into her pocket, feels the sharp edges of her dogtag, the smoothness of Zak’s ring, the chain holding them together. The past. She pulls them out and holds them in her fist. Time to let go. She lets the pieces of metal fall from her fingers and onto the ground. They don’t belong here anymore.


End file.
